


my favourite flavour is a scoop of you

by reylo_mo (writermo)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben makes gelato, But that's all lol, Crushes, F/M, Gelato Parlour, Ice Cream, Instant Attraction, Meet-Cute, Mutual Attraction, Mutual Pining, Rating may go up, Rey goes on casual coffee dates with other people because she is bored, Romance, Seemingly unrequited love, Summer, Summer Fic, Summer Fling, Summer Romance, gelato, ice cream parlour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writermo/pseuds/reylo_mo
Summary: Ben is theice creamgelato man and Rey has a serious craving.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30
Collections: Summer Fic Exchange 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zrofyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zrofyre/gifts).



> Part of The Writer's Den Summer Fic Exchange 2020. 
> 
> Based on the prompt "Ben is the ice cream man and Rey has a serious craving" by Zrofyre. I hope you like it!

The first time he set eyes on her as she pushed through the swinging glass door of his gelato parlour, Ben Solo was sure that the Jakku summer heat had gotten to him at last. 

That he'd finally died of heatstroke and gone to either heaven or hell, because no earthly being he'd ever encountered before looked half as delectable as she did. 

Her brown hair done up in three buns, an unconventional choice of hairstyle, and she was wearing a matching mini-skirt and crop top combo made of yellow cloth with a red cherry print. Even from behind the counter, he could see that freckles dusted her face and shoulders and her skin was sun-kissed and glowing. A soft-looking tummy peeked out from beneath her crop top and her legs looked like they went on for days before ending in scruffy-looking converse high-top sneakers.

And of course, Ben was able to take in all of this in such minute detail because he was staring. Wordlessly. At her.

Like an  _ idiot _ .

The source of Ben Solo's complete and utter brain freeze shot him a friendly, blinding smile and came over to the counter. "Hello," she said cheerily, and Ben's jammed mental cogs sputtered just a little because she had an  _ accent _ . "These look amazing. What's your best flavour?"

And in that moment, for the life of him, Ben had no idea. 

Which was absolutely  _ ridiculous.  _ Because Ben  _ owned  _ Solo's Artisanal Gelato, an extremely successful venture that he was thoroughly passionate about. Ben had left his high-flying career as a financial advisor in the big city  _ because  _ he knew gelato, knew how to craft the right natural ingredients to create the best results, knew how to turn his Nonna Padme's humble home recipes into an award-winning industry secret. (And if he knew a thing or two about running a business thanks to his time balancing the books, that was only to his advantage.)

In fact, he wasn't even supposed to  _ be  _ here, behind the counter in the new Jakku branch that hadn't been officially launched yet, but his staffing manager had somehow managed to mess up the hiring so that no-one was available until next week, and he'd figured now was as good a time as any for him to pop in to the small town and see how things were going in the soft launch phase. 

So yes. Answer. Ben should know the answer. 

The beautiful creature in front of him was frowning now, her brow furrowed as she looked at him with concerned hazel eyes. "Sir?" she said tentatively, and it took everything Ben had to will his body not to respond to her calling him that. "Are you alright?"

Good  _ God,  _ he was a thirty-year-old man, not a horny teenager working the summer at a snow cone shop. He noted with relief that she looked at least to be in her twenties – she would still be a few years younger than him, but  _ she  _ wasn't a teenager either. He didn't know why he was on this train of thought. It was probably because it had been too long since he'd gotten laid. 

_ You could get laid with her,  _ his treacherous, still malfunctioning brain supplied.

Ben decided he had had enough with the unreasonably horny internal monologue. 

"I'm fine," he somehow managed to get himself to say, and thankfully the muscle memory of his lips moving kicked in and he found himself able to speak again. "Please forgive me, I think I was spacing out for a bit there – must have been the heat."

His customer – or would-be customer, if she didn't run out of here at this point – looked outright relieved to find him resume normal behaviour. "Oh, phew," she said. "You honestly looked like you were about to pass out, you had me worried for a bit there. You must be new around here. This honestly isn't a hot day by Jakku standards."

Ben tried to offer her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'm fine," he said. "And I am new here, you caught me. Dropped by Jakku to prep the store for the official launch. I'm Ben. Ben Solo."

“Ben Solo of Solo’s Artisanal Gelato?” she repeated with a smile, and for some reason his stomach flipped hearing her say his name and business in her accent. “Pleased to meet the owner of such a fine establishment. I’m Rey. Just Rey.” She tiptoed to reach over the gelato counter and extend a hand. 

Ben leaned forward and engulfed her tiny hand in his huge one, ignoring the thrill that ran up his spine as he did, as well as the tiny voice in his head that said he'd have to wash his hands before serving the gelato now. Because of course this wasn't normal by any means. He didn't go around shaking hands with his customers. Not even the really pretty ones, even though they all melted in comparison to Rey. 

_ Rey.  _

"So, Rey," he said, in what he hoped was a casual rather than patented customer service voice. "What can I get you?"

But just then the telltale chime of a text message dinged in the air, and Rey dug her phone out of her little watermelon sling bag to grimace at the screen. 

"Ugh, I'm sorry, Ben, but I've got to go," she said, and she sounded genuinely more apologetic than the situation would have called for. "My… friend's arrived a bit earlier than I thought. But – " and her face brightened " – I'm actually just going to be across the street to that café over there. Maybe I'll come back in a bit?"

Ben really should have laughed it off. Plastered a friendly smile on his face and said something generic, like she could come back any time. But instead he leaned forward, resting his forearms over the counter. Looked into those hazel eyes. 

"I'll be waiting," he promised. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben likes Rey hoho do you think Rey likes Ben too


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey's got the hots for the gelato man, but there's a catch.

“You know what, this has been really great!”

Rey had never been a very good liar. But in this particular moment, she was  _ trying  _ to sound convincing. Because the past two hours of completely zoning out, repeated toilet breaks, and hints about the time had not been enough for her date to get the message that  _ Rey didn’t want to be here anymore _ . 

The puppy-faced young man in front of her brightened. “Really?”

“Really!” squeaked Rey, hoping that karma wouldn’t get her for this. “But you know, I’ve also really got to go!”

“That’s fine!” cried her unfortunate date, jumping up from his chair. Joe, his name was. That was about all Rey remembered about him before he had launched off into a painful rambling about himself for two hours. Rey scrambled to her feet as well. “This has been great, Rey. I’ll look forward to your call.” And he actually stuck his hand out for Rey to shake. “An absolute pleasure. Goodbye!” 

And then he turned and promptly left, not even noticing that Rey had made no move to leave their little al fresco table on the sidewalk. She watched him leave and sunk back down into her chair with relief, partly unable to believe that the torture was finally over. She closed her eyes and basked in the rays of the warm summer sun, glad that she had at least managed to talk her date into opting for an outdoors table so that she could enjoy the fine weather. 

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that from this table out on the pavement, she had the perfect view of the glass-walled gelato parlour and its extremely delicious owner across the narrow street. 

Her eyes drifted to the said store proprietor at that very moment, drinking in the sight of him hunched over at a table, working on a piece of a paper amidst a lull in the shop’s customers. Rey cursed appreciatively under her breath and dug her phone out of her bag. 

Rose picked up on the third ring. “Rey-bae! How’d it go?”

Rey groaned and slid a little lower in her chair. “Rose, it was horrible. I can’t believe I let you talk me into this whole Bumble thing!”

Her best friend through four years of college sounded extremely unsympathetic. “Well, that’s why we’ve arranged you a whole week of dates to up your chances. Better luck tomorrow, babe!”

“No!” Rey jerked upright. “Rose, I can’t go through with this crazy plan! We need to abort. Abort mission!”

“Give me one good reason why you’re chickening out.”

Rey bit her lip, eyes sliding across the street for what was probably the hundredth time that afternoon. “Well… I might have met someone.”

“No way!” Rose nearly shouted down the line. “Who is it?”

Rey sighed. “A stranger, I guess.”

Rose snorted. “Right. Convincing. Well, while you work up the courage to ask this Mr. Stranger out, or at least let him know you exist, I don’t know, we can continue on with your pre-arranged dating schedule as agreed.” 

Rey sighed again. There was no use arguing with Rose, even if it was  _ Rey’s _ love life in question here. “Fine. Babe, I’ve got to go.”

“Same here — my takeout’s going to be done in any minute. Rey-bae, I miss you. I can’t wait til you get here.”

“Me too, Rosie. Bye.” But as Rey hung up, her mind couldn’t help correcting Rose’s statement to  _ if  _ Rey got there.

“There” was Naboo, where Rose had just moved to after being offered a job right out of college. Rey was supposed to follow suit soon, but this depended on whether she would be accepted into the grad school programme at Naboo University. Rose had concocted the whole online dating scheme as a means of keeping Rey occupied while waiting for the decision letter to arrive. Rey had to admit that with Rose gone and Plutt having fired her on the spot for mentioning that she might not be able to pick up shifts at the workshop for much longer, she had initially been glad at the idea of filling her afternoons up with casual coffee dates as a distraction, but now the whole thing seemed more like a chore than anything else. 

She kind of knew what was the reason behind her sudden change of mind, and it wasn’t even the fault of Boring Joe and his self-centred soliloquies. 

“Sod it,” she said to herself under her breath, finally getting up from her seat to cross the street and push open the door of Solo’s Artisanal Gelato once more. 

“Stracciatella,” said Ben immediately, the moment he saw her. 

“What?” said Rey, wondering if she’d missed something. 

“Our best flavour,” explained Ben. “You wanted to know what it was – earlier.”

Rey smiled at him. It wasn’t even a flirtatious smile, one that she employed because that was what she hoped would be attractive to him, or anything – she just couldn’t help it. “Looks like that’s what I’ll be getting then,” she laughed. 

“Right,” he said seriously, getting up from his seat to get behind the counter. He had to pass Rey to do so, and she couldn’t help but marvel; Rey was not a short woman, but she felt positively dwarfed by his height and size. “It pairs well with our pistachio flavour – do you think you can manage two small scoops?”

Rey grinned at him. “I can manage anything,” she said. She thought he stiffened a bit at her words, and added hastily before he thought she was being weird, “I mean I eat a lot. I have a huge appetite, it’s kind of my thing.”

He picked up a gelato scoop. “Sure.”

She watched as he did his thing, looking at the way a single lock of his hair fell across his forehead, how good his face looked in profile, the standout veins visible in his forearms as he scooped the gelato. She didn’t know what it was about him that made him so attractive to her; his features weren’t conventionally handsome, and she had never really been drawn to those wide, brawny types previously – but all this didn’t change the fact that she  _ was  _ attracted to him.

Incredibly so. 

When she reached out to take the gelato cone from him, her hand brushed against his accidentally – in her defense, he had  _ giant  _ hands, not leaving her much room to get a grip on the cone without touching him. What she hadn’t been expecting, though, was for her to feel something like a jolt when their hands touched – realistically, it was probably just a shock of static, but it made her heart race all the same.

“Thank you,” she said, a bit breathlessly. “How much is it?”

She’d thought his eyes were dark previously, but they looked almost golden in the swath of sunlight shining in from the windows. “On the house.”

Rey opened her mouth to protest, but then the door opened and a gaggle of teenagers entered the parlour. She jerked her hand back quickly – thankfully, the cone came with it – trying hard to make it seem like she hadn’t just been standing motionless touching hands with the ice cream man. 

“Thank you, Ben,” she murmured. “It’s very kind of you.”

She retreated to one of the tables to make space for the new customers and try her gelato. It tasted  _ amazing _ – rich and flavourful, with just the right balance between icy and creamy. The stracciatella was outstanding, and it did go perfectly with the pistachio pairing as Ben had recommended. Even the waffle cone felt like the best one Rey had ever had, and she was about 50% sure it wasn’t just because of the man who had given it to her. 

A flurry of customers came in after that, leaving Rey with little opportunity to go and flirt with Ben. She was also starting to feel guilty about table-hogging, so she slipped off the bar stool, gave Ben a wave which he reciprocated even while in the midst of taking someone’s order, and stepped out of the gelato parlour and into the cooler evening air. 

And Rey didn’t even feel too bad about leaving without saying a proper goodbye. Because she knew, without a doubt, that she’d be back pretty soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you think ben will mind that rey is on a slew of dates I'm sure he won't not at all nope

**Author's Note:**

> Ben likes Rey hoho do you think Rey likes Ben too


End file.
